Adjustable hinging-strip for doors.



S S I T N E R QM L ADJUSTABLE HINGINGSTRIP FOR DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1907.

wihwoaeo JG 417, I

UNITED STATES LEWIS S. PRENTISS, OF OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY.

ADJUSTABLE HINGING-STRIP FOR DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 5, 1907.

Application filed June 24. 1907- Serial No. 380.411.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwrs S. PRENTIss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oklahoma city, in the county of Oklahoma and Territory of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable flinging-Strips for Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to door stiles of an adjustable character, in which the stile to which the door is hinged is fitted in a recess extending back into the jamb, the inside casing of the door frame constituting the front wall of the recess, to which is secured the edge of a narrow strip equal to the width of the recess, and denominated the recess jamb, the opposite edge of said strip being secured to a broader strip, equal to the depth of the recess, its opposite or front edge being secured to the door-jamb, proper; thus forming a jamb-recess rectangularin form and in length equal to the door used; in the recess is fitted a vertical strip denominated, adjustable stile, of equal length and thickness of the door which is to be hinged to it, and nearly a half inch narrower than the recess is deep; near each end of said stile extended flat headed stovebolts are passed through holes transversely bored from edge to edge in said stile and threaded into platenuts secured to the recess jamb, the heads of said bolts being nearly covered by face-plates set into the face edge of the stile and secured thereto and provided with openings admittinga screw driver to the carf in the head of said bolts whereby they are turned, for forward and rearward adjustment, all of which will hereinafter be more, fully explained.

The objects of my invention are; first to provide means to compensate for the shrinking and swelling of doors in buildings and maintain a proper fit within the door frame without the use of a plane or of a strip tacked onto the edge of the door; second, to provide means easy of operation and comparatively inexpensive, I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- I Figure 1 is an elevation of a door and its frame embodying the elements of my invention, viewed from the interior of the room; Fig. 2 is a transverse elevation on line a; Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective of the stile; Fig. 4 is a perspective of a section of the rear recess wall with the stile supporting plate secured thereto; Fig. 5 is a transverse section on line m Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a vertical cross section of one of the two like platenuts; Fig. 7 is a vertical cross section of parts of the stile and the recess jamb; Fig. 8 is one of the duplicate face-plates; Fig. 9 is sections in elevation of the stile and back wall of the recess; Fig. 10 is a part section in elevation of one of the duplicate face-plates and collars and one of the duplicate adjusting bolts.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings A indicates the cap, B the left and O the right inside casings of the door frame which have their converging edges beveled or rounded on account of the door D being set into the frame nearly an inch farther than is customary. The stile a is of the same thickness as the door, usually, but not necessarily so and the width may reasonablyrange from one inch to three inches and when in place it stands with one side against the rear surface of the inside casing B, or O as depending upon the way the door shall swing. To form the recess 0, the jamb bis narrower than usual by the thickness of the stile a and the rear wall d of the recess, see Fig. 5; the recess jamb d is a strip of timber the full thickness of the stile a and is firmly secured to the said wall (I and to which the casing B is secured by nails or by screws, forming a jamb recess into which the stile a is placed, without force, and to provide for its adjustment and the door hinged thereto, near each of its ends transverse holes are bored edgewise and slightly larger than the bolts to be used, said holes are extended through the recessjamb (2; preferably, long, flat headed stove-bolts c are used, and to prevent wear in the stile and to facilitate the turning of the bolts the collar f is provided one end of which is countersunk to correspond with the head of the bolts, the collars being sunk into the front edge of the stile so the face of the bolt head will be flush with the off-set provided for the face-plates g of which there are two alike, having screw holes and a central opening 9 slightly less in diameter than the bolt head being adapted to admit a screw driver to the nick in the bolt head during adjustment, the said face-plates being firmly secured to the front edge of the stile and flush therewith, see Figs. 3 & 7. Threaded plate-nuts h h are provided for the bolts e having screw holes countersunk upon the face side and a central swell upon the reverse side. One of the plate nuts is sunk into the rear side of the recess-jamb d on line with the upper hole and flush with the timber; the other plate-nut is set in the reverse side of the recess-jamb on line with the lower hole, see Fig. 7. The door-stop "i is slightly larger than the ordinary to cover the meeting of the parts of the jamb b and to provide for excessive doorward adjustment of the stile.

For the purpose of carrying the weight of the stile a, and the door D hinged thereto, the hook-plate j is provided and firmly secured to the rear side of the said stile, the plate portion being set in flush with the stile, the stem portion j being at a right angle therewith and the hook portion 9' pointing downward, see Fig. 9; opposite said hook-plate and adapted to cooperate in conjunction therewith, the stile supporting plate It,

being L-shaped as viewed from its rear vertical edge, and set in a gain cut in the rear wall at of the recess and in a manner that the toe or hook portion is shall form a rest for the stem portion 9" of the hook j; the said stile supporting plate may be secured in place by screws, but preferably by fiat headed stove-bolts, as shown in Fig. 9, a portion of the jamb b being broken away to expose the bolt Z. The stile supporting plate It may be inverted and secured to the stile a and the hooks plate 9' may be inverted and secured to the recess wall d and produce the same effect, and in some cases might be preferable. The opposite jamb of the door frame and the outside casings n n are unchanged from the ordinary, and the inside casings B and C may remain unchanged, but on account of securing them to the studding, not shown but understood, the left casing B should be slightly wider than ordinary and the right one C should correspond therewith. The threshold 0 may i be slightly wider than the ordinary on-account of the door settlng in the frame slightly more than usual.

The hinges by which the door D is hinged to the stile i a need not differ from the ordinary.

Having determined the thickness of the door to be used construct the stile a and the recess 0 for it to operate in in accordance therewith, bearing in mind the fact that a good fit is desirable, and that an adjustability of half an inch is suflicient in ordinary cases. Observe that the strain on the upper and the lower bolts is reversed and the lower face-plate and its screws or fastenings should be strong enough to withstand the pressure, which is largely relieved by the stile support, hereinbefore described.

in operation, set the adjustable stile a in its place within the recess a leaving about three-eighths of an inch between the stile and the recess jamb d; fit the door and hinge it to the stile a; in case the door is well seasoned it will usually swell in a short time past the point of latching, when that condition occurs, through the opening 9 in the face-plates 9 insert a screw driver in the nick of the bolt heads and turn the bolts e in the direction to draw the stile a back into the recess 0, until the door will close freely and latch properly; in case the door should shrink, as is often the case to the extent of failing to latch, turn the screws in the opposite direction bringing the said stile out until the door latches as desired; in case the door sags, as indicated by the broken line the diificulty may be remedied by turning the upper bolt in one direction and the lower bolt in the opposite direction, thus adjusting the door to its frame, without the necessity of planing off portions or tacking strips, in the ordinary way, onto the edge of the door, or moving the latch-plate q toward the door until the latch of the lock r engages said plate. It will be understood that, in case it is desired to swing the door in the opposite direction the recess c will be built in the jamb m of the opposite side of the door frame, and although certain parts will necessarily be reversed, by following the same general principles of construction illustrated and described the'desired result will be obtained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In the combination of a door and a door frame for buildings; a door frame having one of its jamhs rearwardly offset to form in conjunction with the inside casinga vertical channel in which said casing constitutes its left wall the right wall being parallel thereto secured to the frame jamb and having a vertical strip secured to the right and left walls to form the rear wall of said channel; threaded nut-plates IL secured to the upper rear and to the lower front portion of the rear wall of the channel, said wall having perforations in line with the openings in the platenuts for adjusting bolts; a hinging strip consisting' of an elongated strip slidably fitted edgewise in said channel and having the door hinged to its front edge and having upper and lower adjusting bolts with collars thereon engaging the heads of said bolts which pass transversely through said hinging strip from the front their ends being threaded into the said plate-nuts for adjusting the door; face plates secured to the front edge of said hinging strip to cover the heads of said adjusting bolts and having perforations to alford access to the nicks in the heads of said bolts to be turned by a screw driver; a hook-plate j secured to one side of the hinging strip; an L-shaped supporting plate set in the adjacent channel wall in position to cooperate with said hook-plate to sustain the weight of the said hinging strip and the door hingedthereto, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS S. PRENTISS.

Witnesses:

Torr W. COATES, ROY E. KINGSBURY. 

